Abdominal supporter.



l l TE ABDOMINAI. suesosrss..

Specication of Letters Patent.

@resented Aug. i315.

Application filed January 7, 19M. Serial No. mof.

Be it known that l, liv. BELKNAP, s. citizen of the United States. and a resident of the city of Vancouver, in the Province 0lV British Columbia, Canada, have invented certain new and useful li'nprovemeuts in Abdominal Supporters, of which the following is a specication. u

My invention relates to improvements in abdominal supporters, and the object Ot' my invention is to devise a supporter in which the line of act-ual supportollou's across the region below the abdomen in front and eX- tends around the back by way of the hip bones to the waist line, thus all'ordiug the support in the .most natural manner and at the point where it is most required, While at the same time leaving the' stomach and diaphragm absolutely free from undue pressure.

A further object is to de vise an abdominal supporter' which can be vreadily placed on the person and which, on account of the particular manner in which-the back lacing is permananlly arranged, is caps-.ble of great evenness and Vflexibility of adjustment.

l attain `these objects by the means illusgs trated in the accompanying drawings in which# v Figure l is a front view or' my supporter. Fig. 2 is a rear view. 3 is a side View showing my supporter in place on the figure.

Similar ligures of reference indicate similar parts throughout the several views.'

l represents the body section of my sup- Vporter, made of any suitable pliable material and adapted to extend around the front and sides of the body of the wearer and partially :around the bach, 'the back portion section 2, which is adapted to be detachably connected to the mein body section by Jfasteners of any suitable type.

3 represents strengthening stays disposed at suitable positions around the complete supporter.

l is s 'li-shaped reinforcing strip secured to thedlront Ol' the body section and at lthe lowerfpoint thereof., for the purpose of taking the supporting strain and to .which the adjusting buckles are flexibly connected. This 'lf-shaped strip fl is secured to the body section in such :i manner as'to leavewisl eX- .tremities 'lr'ee of the body section, these free ends 5 and G havinga plurality of eyeleted openings, 7 and E respectively, therethrough.

being completed by means of au intermediate 9 are the adjusting buckles, which are connected to the strip l by means of the lscings 1G, these lacings being passed through the eyeleted openings 7 and 8 and brought beck to th buckles 9, towhich their free ends are secured by any suit-able means.

1l represents a rou1 of vertically arranged eyeleted openings, in the material in prosiniity to oueend 1Q of the complete supporter, while 13 represents a. row of eyeletcd opeiiings in proximity to the other end i of the complete supporter and oppositely set to the openings ll.

The back lacing of my supporter. consists of tivo independent sets of lacing, as shown in Fig. 2, that is, the set of laeings 15, 1which is adapted to engage the end l2 of the supporter andthe set of lscings 16, which eugages the opposite end lfl. The set os lecings 16 is 'shown incomplete, for the sake of clearness in the drawing; it, however, is s duplication o' the set of lacings l5. Esch of these sets of lacings lo and 16 consists of a number of independent laces, each of which laces serves a pair of' eyeleted @pene ings in eachl o' the rows l1 and 13' respeta tively, beingreeyed sheretbrough to drow downwardly,r when in position, in the man ner clearly shown in Fig. 3. The free'euds of the laces arel carried, respectively, to tbe belt-s 3.7 and 18, to which they are securely fastened by any approved means, such as the clasp 19.

2U are studs or buttons secured to the front of the-supporter to which a sanitary belt or truss may be attached. Hose supporters may also be attached to the body section in any suitable manner.

Having thus indicated the principal parts of my invention l will now describe the maar ner inwhich it is used and .its utility.

ln operation, the fasteners connecting the iutermediateseczion 2 to the body section i are disengaged, and the belts l? and lSa-re uubuclled, allowing the back lacing to be loosened. after which the supporter may be placed upon tbe person. The section 2 is then ria-fastened to the bodv section l, after whicn, the wearer, by grasping the belts l? and 1S and drawing: forwardly thereon, may

draw the supporter in to the required tightness. 'When this is acconmlished. the belts 17 and l@ may be reeved tlirough their re sportive buckles i) and engaged thereby to 'keep the supporter in position on the per-v son` The supporting members of the device Ell@ les f lli) ' 4will then be in the positions' shown in 3,

vever present;

, part of f .g.

and it will be seen, as indicated by the dotted line X-f-X, Fig. 3, that the lower part of the abdomen is thus supported or carried from the waistr iny the strongest and most natural manner,

Referringparticularly to Fig. 3, the utility of my -invention will be clearly seen, as it -will be noted that,in abdominal supporters vin use at the present time, thev tendenev is to draw the abdomen inwardly by a puli on and across the front of 'the stomach, more.

with a View to the reduction of oorpulence than the actual supporting of the abdomen. ln suela abdominal supporters or belts, while the reduetionof eorpulenoe may be attained, little, if any,support is 'given to the lower `parts of the abdomen, While the risk of injury to 'they delicate organs in that part of the human frame through undue pressure is In my invention, l obviate entirely, and .snppoit the lower alo i as' my invention is abomnalf minora/ing a auch riait the deinen in a manner which is. f! l.

` body eneireling belt having a depending front portionadapted to completely cover the lowerrnost portion of the-abdomen, and adjustable straps extending forwardly and downwardly from the rear of said belt, a V- shaped strip havingr eyelets along the edges of the ends of the legs of the V said strip being secured 'centrally to the extremity of said depending front portion so that the lower strip coincide, said strip being entirely below the level of the rear bottom edge of the belt,

'edges ofl said depending portion and the lacings passing through said eyelets and buckles carried by said laeings, said buckles adjustably connecting with said forwardly and downwardly extending adjustable straps whereby a straight line of supportis secured u 

